TIME CAPSULE LETTER
Written by your BSA team (Austyn, Juan, RJ, Victor, Anna, Will, Amanda, Sarah and Danielle)
Dear students,
It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed since you all joined us in Playa Junquillal for your Beachside service adventure! You all truly impressed us with your grit, determination, and fun loving spirits. We enjoyed so many things about your session, including watching you all bob down the river during river tubing, working hard and learning so much during service, and seeing your beautiful friendship bonds during our final Appreciation Circle activity. We hope you enjoy hearing from your favorite mentors below 🙂
Muchachos y muchachas!! I hope you are all doing well and take the time today to remember the moments you spent in Costa Rica with us at BSA. There were many rewarding moments, moments of joy, moments of discomfort, and moments where you started to question. It is crazy how much you were able to grow in 10 days of service and adventure. I know I was very impressed and proud of you all. No matter where you are or what you are doing now, I hope you know you can always make a difference big or small and both are important. As Ester reminded my group, your values are something you hold within you and you must strive to live them out. Miss you all! Just BE CHILL! And keep on keeping on! – Mentor Amanda
Friends! We hope that you are doing well. We have missed you so much since our time together in Costa Rica. Our time together was so special, and we learned so much from each and every one of you. Your impact on the community was incredible, and we hope you still carry all of the things you learned with you every day! We know you are out there working toward your goals, following your dreams, making new friends, being open to new experiences, and being a bright light in the world – we are so proud of you! Can’t wait to continue seeing the positive energy you continue to bring to those around you. We miss you and hope to cross paths with you again soon <3 - Sarah
Hola mis amigos!!! Some time has passed since these 10 days you spent in Costa Rica. I miss and think about you guys often. I truly hope that you gained something from this experience even if you don’t realize it directly. I hope you make a constant effort everyday to be kind and to learn from the environment around you. I encourage you to do things because you want to, because they make you happy, and because you truly believe they are the right thing to do. I really believe each and every one of you are such great people and have the potential to change those around you. Words are powerful so use them wisely. I hope that you are a bit more comfortable with who you are and can see how much you have to offer the world.
Stay weird. Be kind. – Anna
Hola amigos, I hope things have gone well for each of you the last six months. Time passes quickly so I hope you have made the most of your time and carried the lessons you learned at GLA into your lives wherever you are in the world. Thank you for all of your efforts during our 10 days together in Costa Rica. Seeing your group trust the program and buy into the curriculum is amazing to see. To my service group I truly appreciate all the hard work you put in and to my mentor group thank you for opening up and sharing. Continue to push your boundaries and challenge yourselves daily! Best, Will
Pura Vida! How is it going? Hope all is well! I just want to say that by now you should have decided which GLA programme you are going to do for next summer! Whether it’s Bali or Ghana or Thailand or maybe Costa Rica again, I hope that you would come with so much positive anticipation to seek change and learn more about the world we live in! Travel, travel, travel! And I hope someday, our paths will cross again! Love, RJ
Dear all,
I hope you are doing well. I hope this letter finds you well and know that you were such a special group to me. Tell me! Have you achieved the amount of community service that you wanted to do? We in GLA would love to hear from you. Did you get to teach the family the importance of separating solid waste from home ?
I remember our conversation and the key to get these goals is to start with the first step. The rest will come alone with consistency. Wish you all the best. Gla and I are here to support you with ideas and also to cheer you up on your goals.
Kind regards
¡Gracias!
Thank you!
Obrigado !
KOB Khun!
-Víctor
Hello again to my Beachside Service Adventure Leaders! It was six months ago now that you were in Costa Rica where you applied your best efforts in both your service and mentor groups, immersed yourself in the Tico culture, and enjoyed the sound of crashing waves and the sight of painted skies during every sunset at Playa Junquillal. I’m grateful that I got to meet you all and learn a little about you. I’d like you to know that you have all inspired me to be a better human, and I continue to wish for the very best for each of you. I’m so proud of the work you did while you were in Guanacaste, and I hope that you carry the memories with you forever! Remember to uphold what you value most in life, seek to understand and connect with others, and never stop learning. I hope to run into you again somewhere in the world, hopefully traveling and living your best life. Pura Vida! Good vibes always – Dani
Our hope for you all is that you have taken your experiences from Beachside back to your home life and turned them into something meaningful in your own community. Remember those goals you set for yourself and as a mentor group? Check in with yourself about if you are working toward those goals, and how to sustain the energy and excitement from your time here back in your day to day life. If you learned anything with us, I hope it was that change is made one small, individual decision at a time. Keep making those brave daily choices, and know that we are always cheering you on. -Austyn
Beachside Bestside!!!
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
Here are a few things you can expect:
- We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week here at GLA Headquarters from our program staff and students, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post daily – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors, including but not limited to internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes onsite program staff are only able to send text back to Headquarters, where our team updates the blog.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
Cell Phone Policy: The GLA cell phone policy is currently in place this summer to help foster meaningful connections between students. This means your student’s phone will be collected every day and returned to them after activities are completed to have with them through the night. Actual tech times and regularity will vary greatly by program location and time zones. During designated ‘tech time’, your student may use their phones as they wish. Please note that your student may not always choose to use this time to get a hold of their parents. If you are not hearing directly from your student each day, you can assume that no news is good news! We strongly recommend you follow the blog to follow your students’ experience without talking to them every day. If you are a parent and would like to get in touch with your student directly, you can call us at +1-619-758-3031 and we can set up a formal time for you to connect with your student.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 24
Pura Vida!
Today, we welcomed our amazing young leaders to the beautiful country of Costa Rica! The first batch of students arrived around 10 in the morning at the Liberia Airport, followed by couple more groups by noon.
They went straight to the homebase where they found their rooms, had some initial health checks and swim test, and got to know one another. By afternoon, just as a new batch of students arrived at homebase, we were invited to view baby sea turtles released in the ocean. It was a thrilling and magical experience for the students to witness this event. What a treat!
Some heavy rain caused the power to go out for a little bit, but we gathered together anyway to enjoy the afternoon. Despite the power interruption, we were still able to continue with our activities in the arvo and witness an amazing sunset. We finished the day with a delicious traditional meal of arroz, frijoles, pollo, y enselada and some icebreaker activities to get to know one another.
While we had a great time making friends and learning about our fellow GLA-ers, we eagerly await our final 5 leaders who will arrive late in the evening. We look forward to orientation day tomorrow and to learning more about the service projects we will be participating in.
Dear parents, family and friends! Please continue sending support by following our daily blogs and commenting below!
We will see you soon with more fun updates!
– Sarah and RJ (GLA Mentors)
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 25
Written by By Sara C.
Today we woke up to warm weather and new friends for our first full day at Home Base! After having breakfast of eggs, rice & beans, yogurt, and fruit, we headed to orientation. We learned all about our mentors and the family who runs the hotel. We then broke into groups for activities including a scavenger hunt and various safety activities.
Lunch was rice and chicken with salad. After lunch we finally got to learn about how lucky we are to be here and the leadership opportunities we can take advantage of. The mentors introduced the four service projects we can take part in: Verdiazul – helping out a sea turtle conservation organization, Uniendo Comunidades – service for local communities, Guanacaste Water Center – tree planting, and Grupo de Ecológio de Avellanas – beach cleanup and meeting people from a local school. We came up with skits about each project and then chose our favorites. We can’t wait to hopefully find them out tomorrow! We had some free time to swim before dinner – pork chops, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and salad.
Our final activity before bed was a debate about the economic and social problems surrounding sea turtle conservation. Our first day was eventful, and tomorrow will bring more adventures! We’re starting to adjust to the warm weather as well!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 26
Written by Leaders of the Day: Sara C, Luca, Jo, Ariel, Darcy, Sylvie, Natalia
Today we woke up bright an early to refreshing rain before hopping on the bus for our adventure day! Breakfast was empanadas – many said they were the best they had ever eaten! We napped on the bus on the way to some amazing adventures. First was ziplining! We zoomed through the gorgeous Costa Rican jungle, seeing waterfalls – sometimes hanging upside down! Next we made our way to an all you can eat buffet filled with delicious Costa Rican cuisine. When we were full we made our way to our second adventure🥲…tubing through the jungle!
Half of this adventure was filled with peaceful floating and sightseeing, and half was holding on for dear life as we flew down the river! Everyone had so much fun and exited the river smiling and sad that it was over(and alive!). We made it back to home base and had some free time in the pool playing taps before having the opportunity to witness one of the most beautiful sunsets we had ever seen! We played beach volleyball – new highscore! – and got swim go in the ocean with our amazing mentors RJ and Victor. We stayed at the beach to share our favorite parts of the day and said goodbye to the beautiful scenery (for now!)
We ate another delicious home-cooked meal: chili and salad. After a little free time came the moment we had all been waiting for: Service Group Reveal! We’re so excited for the real adventure to begin tomorrow when we meet our service organizations! Then we started one of our favorite nighttime activities yet…… KARAOKE!!! Each table chose a song to perform to, and we ended our night all singing along to Starships! Today was AMAZING! We are getting closer to our new friends and can’t for the next adventures to come!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 27
Written by Chloe, Lynden, Michael, Pierce, Giselle, AK
Woke up bright and early at 7am to do service work to help the local community. We went into our 4 different service sites. Some work at the local school, picked up trash at local beach, prepare to plant trees, and dug fresh sand for the local sea turtle hatchery. After a couple hours of work we headed back for lunch and hung out at the pool to bonded with our peers.
We hosted a guest speaker that taught us about Costa Rican culture and its geography. After that we took a dance class and learned how to dance the salsa and do a native Guanacaste dance. Then we had a delicious pasta dinner and met with groups to reflect on our amazing day!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 28
We woke up bright and early at 7:00am excited for the service projects that lay ahead. The students in the Guanacaste Water Service project planted 64 trees, those in Uniendos Comunidades cleaned up the beach and learned about mangroves, the Avellanas students made signs and picked up trash, and the Verdiazul group dug sand and played frisbee on the beach.
In the warm afternoon, we took buses to the town of Paraíso to learn to cook tortillas, play soccer, and learn traditional Costa Rican games with local kids. When we came back, it was raining but we still enjoyed a beautiful sunset in the rain and ended the night with a pool party to celebrate two birthdays. Happy birthday Kate and Stella!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 29
Written by Paloma, Sol, Jinaya, Kirill, Lucas, and Nellie
Hi readers! We started out the day with a delicious breakfast of cheesy eggs, rice and beans, and cereal, (a fan favorite). Dietary restrictions were met, as always.
After breakfast, we broke off into our four service groups for the rest of the morning and worked on a variety of service activities, ranging from painting signs and benches in a public park, cleaning up trash and building compost piles, replanting and planting new fruit trees, and walking down the beach collecting trash. We then ate a hard earned lunch of minced pork, rice, and steamed vegetables. During lunch we also filled out a GLA program survey on how we feel about the experience so far and any changes we would like to see be implemented for future GLA programs.
For the next hour we had some free time before all heading to a beach, Playas Blancas, for an afternoon of swimming, tanning, beach volleyball, and soccer. Everyone was exhausted when we got back to home base around 4, so we all were thankful when we got free time before a sunset swim.
We ended our day with a chow circle on the beach, talking about our highlights, takeaways, and shoutouts of the day. Dinner was a delicious stir fry and our night activity was watching an informative Ted Talk called The Danger of a Single Story. We then broke off into our mentor groups to digest the video a little more and analyze our own stereotypes and experiences of preconceptions.
Looking back on the day, we feel accomplished, tired, excited, and very sunburnt!! More to come for our last few days of this one of a kind adventure. Pura Vida!!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 30
We started out morning with an early rising and after a deliscious breakfast we began our second to last day of community service. Verdiazul was filling the whole to clean out the bacteria of the sand to help the turtles and as a reward they got to cool off in the ocean. The GEA (Avellanas) drew signs for a second beach and clean up a fishing beach that attracts many tourists. In total they picked up 270 pounds worth of trash. They found tires along with a tent and parts of a boat. Uniendo Communidades painted benches with positive messages about the environment to inspire the local people to treat their parks and communities with care. The Guanacaste water center planted trees at a local school and worked in the garden of the school. This work was done with the help provided by the children that attend the school. All groups so far have worked tremendous hours and put in a lot of sweat and to improve the local communities and this hard work is slowly coming to an end but the outcomes are very rewarding.
And after a delicious lunch the students went to a local chocolate factory where Ron (the owner) was able to explain and demonstrate how organic chocolate is made. After the students got to taste some very particular flavors.
After we returned to home base we all watched the sunset which was followed by dinner and ended the night with a fun trivia game. Finally there is a lot of excitement for the last day of service tomorrow!
